Real Wedding: Erich and Steph

Tired of all this ice and snow?  Regretting that you ever agreed to a January wedding? Well, brush up on your Espanol and head down to Puerto Rico, Mexico, and the like and have yourself a merry little destination wedding.  Not only do we love the idea of a barefoot on the beach weddings, we are all for adventure and that is why we love destination weddings. Luckily enough, today's post is all about a real couple, Erich and Steph, and their destination wedding that we're sure will warm your heart.

Erich, our good friend from Rutgers, met Stephanie about 3 years ago at the gym.  Erich was wearing his usual Life Guard t-shirt, which prompted Stephanie to ask him if he was actually a life guard or if he, like her dad, just wore the shirt. They got to talking, eventually started hanging out, and had their first official date at the Linvilla Orchards where they went apple picking.  Then, one fateful day in August 2009, Steph came home from a long and stressful day of work (first grade teacher! yikes!) to find Erich eagerly awaiting her arrival.  He told her he had a surprise for her, played Brad Paisley's song "Then", asked her to dance and then he proposed.  Steph was shocked as Erich got down on one knee and once she realized what was really happening she immediately started crying, leaving Erich on his knees until he said, "Baby, you need to answer me. My knee is really starting to hurt."  She said yes, of course, and thus began their wedding planning adventure. Here are some of the photos of their wedding in Cancun, Mexico.

Steph knew that she wanted someplace tropical and beautiful for her wedding, so, after checking out some prices, they settled on Cancun, Mexico. We all know that planning a wedding is stressful and as far as planning goes, she said that, although she was never really worried, the most difficult part of planning was getting around the language barrier and communicating with the wedding planner.  Luckily, Steph and Erich didn't focus on a theme or have bridesmaids or colors necessarily and just wanted it to be bright and colorful which made things easier. What also made things simpler was that they didn't have to plan for a lot of people and only invited immediate family to their ceremony.  In conclusion, we asked Steph for her final words of advise on destination wedding planning and she wrote, "Don't be too crazy about the location. We chose the location based on pricing. The resort took care of the rest. Anywhere you go, the resorts do this all the time! Ask questions to the resort, any questions you want, they should answer them with no problem but do not worry about it. It will be beautiful.  Oh! And don't plan it during hurricane season...it is too stressful."

Details:

Venue for wedding: Grand Solaris, Cancun, Mexico

Venue for reception: Lazaretto Ballroom, Essington, PA

DJ: EBE Entertainment, Philadelphia, PA

Flowers: Petals in the Park, Ridley Park, PA

Favors and other decorations: Oriental Trading

Rings: Robbins Diamonds, Newark, DE

Wedding Dress: Frank Bernard Bridal, Wilmington, DE

Thanks, Erich and Steph, for sharing your pictures and destination wedding insight with us. Best wishes for a happy marriage!

XOXO

Jen & Saira